Homebrewing: A fun life.

“I can do better”

Something every home-brewer has said as they sip a craft ale. While they always enjoy the time and effort in what a brewery has created, there is always a little friendly competition.

Every brewer had to start somewhere. Pouring hours and hours of their life, cramped into a small garage, fiddling with keggles, checking the mash over and over. While it is a lot of work, it’s well worth it. Much like cooks enjoying their own creations, home-brewers love pouring their first glass and taking a refreshing sip of their craft.

I’m lucky enough to have a friend who has devoted hundreds of hours in setting up his own home brewery. 10 gallon system, all grain, with three keggles and dozens of corny kegs. This is the system that almost all home-brewers would love to have. While not fancy, its effective and efficient. It helps that his father-in-law is a well known home-brewer. He is the guy that judges home-brew competitions and goes to all the conventions. It helps that his brother-in-law is an assistant brewer at Mac and Jacks in Redmond. My friend married into the right family.

As I sit here today, helping him brew a northwest IPA, I sit back and think how great this whole home-brewing is. While it is a slow drawn out process, waiting for the mash, sparging, adding the hops, etc. It’s fun to spend time with your friends, and in a couple of weeks, we get to sit down and enjoy our creation, while brewing another batch.

If you haven’t home-brewed before, try it. There are places all around Seattle you can go to. Larrys homebrew in Kent, Gallaghers in Edmonds to name a few. But try it. See what it takes to become a brewer. You’ll see how hard they work, how much fun it is, and who knows, maybe you’ll be the next Redhook.